For most people, getting arrested and charged for driving under the influence (DUI) is the most stressful thing that they'll have happen to them in years, and sometimes in their entire lifetime. And unfortunately, in the Atlanta area, a DUI charge can last for years as it winds its way through the maze of the legal system. That's why it's important to keep you eyes on the end goal, and not get bogged down in the monotony and frustration of the process, itself.
Remember: Your goal is to get acquitted at trial.
Everything else that you do should move you towards that goal.
But getting acquitted by a jury is kind of conceptual. To help to understand what makes a jury acquit someone in a trial, you need to understand what a burden of proof is, and how it works.
In every case, someone has the burden of proof. The burden of proof is a certain responsibility: The responsibility of showing that you're right. Burdens of proof come in different shapes and sizes, though, depending on the case. In most civil cases, this burden of proof is by “a preponderance of the evidence.” In a DUI case, however, this burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This means that the side with the burden of proof has to show that they're right, and that there's no reasonable doubt about it.
This is a very high burden of proof. Fortunately, it's the prosecutor who has to meet it in a DUI case. This is very good news, if you've been charged for DUI. It means that it's up to the prosecutor to show that there's no reasonable doubt out there that you're guilty of DUI. Instead of having to prove that you're innocent, all that you have to do is prevent the prosecutor from meeting his or her burden of proof. And all you have to do, in order to do this, is raise a reasonable doubt in their case against you.
A jury cannot convict you for DUI, unless the prosecutor meets the burden of proof, and shows that you're guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt. So, that's the big goal that you have, if you've been charged for DUI: Raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecutor's case. If you can do this, then the jury will acquit you at trial.
The best way to raise a reasonable doubt at trial is to hire the best DUI defense attorney that you can. Criminal defense attorneys in general are lawyers whose job it is to raise reasonable doubts in a prosecutor's case, and get acquittals. Unfortunately, most criminal defense attorneys often take on all different sorts of criminal cases, and so don't have a high level of understanding, when it comes to the unique parts of DUI cases. Luckily, there are DUI defense attorneys like me, who specialize in drunk driving cases, and know exactly where reasonable doubts can best be raised. Call me at (404) 816-4440 if you want me to defend you against a charge of DUI in the Atlanta area.